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Bearcats Breakfast 10.5.11

Hope your bye week has turned you into a more productive citizen and you have plans to now spend your Saturday volunteering at a local soup kitchen or entertaining at a retirement community.

Oh, you're still going to sit on your couch and watch football all day? OK, then I guess I'll keep feeding you football news. In fact, UC offers up the only media availability of the bye week this afternoon, so I'll head up there and return with some nuggets from players and coaches tomorrow.

Let's eat...--- Plenty of takes on what the heck has gotten into this Bearcats team up front. Bill Koch talks about the hard edge and physicality on the lines. Andrew Force takes on the the spread offense and how Butch Jones is showing you don't have to be pass-happy to succeed in it. --- I do like that Jones has stayed out of the fan attendance conversation. He always expresses his appreciation for the fans which are in attendance at Nippert, regardless of number. Winning games will bring fans.

Telling people what to do with their money irks me. Calling out people that have long supported the Mountaineers program when you are the new guy playing in your fifth game irks me even more.

--- The schedule works out nicely for UC. Not only do they enjoy a bye the week before opening Big East play, Louisville, fresh off a loss to Marshall, will be returning from a tough game at North Carolina this weekend. Already banged up (QB Will Stein and RB Victor Anderson fighting injuries), it could be a depleted group of Cardinals coming to Paul Brown Stadium.

--- Basketball season officially begins in 10 days. One of the first public events of the season will be the Coaches vs. Cancer Breakfast Mick Cronin will be attending along with Chris Mack, Charlie Coles, Archie Miller and Billy Donlon.

The always entertaining Phil Martelli will also be there. They'll talk about the season and all things college hoops while raising money for a fantastic cause. It's from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Nov. 2 at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati. Tickets are $75 and will be available starting Oct. 7.

There's more information here, but if you have the morning open it would be a great event to support. Plus, you can be the first person this year to ask Mick about his rotation! He'll love that.

--- Speaking of basketball season, I was up in the UC offices yesterday
and came across the UC basketball poster for this season. Strong to
quite strong.

Here it is.

--- People love finding snubs from the Wooden Top 50 list. Yesterday, I mentioned Yancy Gates on here.

"Comment: It's no coincidence that Cincinnati
solidified its place in the NCAA tournament last February just as Gates began to
tap into his immense potential. The previously erratic 6-foot-9 senior averaged
16 points in Cincinnati's last nine regular season games and scored in double
figures in all nine of those games. Projecting a significant leap from Gates is
risky since he has produced similar numbers in all three seasons at Cincinnati,
but if he can build on that late-season stretch, he has the talent to be as good
as any big man in the Big East."